There have been many posts related to work lately because I just find them so interesting.  I get a lot of sales calls at the office.  Too many.  Today, a call was passed over to me…

T:  John Doe (fictitious obviously) said he sent you some baked goods and would like to talk to you about his company.

Me:  Uh, what baked goods?  I didn’t get anything.  Send him to voicemail please – thanks!

The voicemail basically said that his company sent me some cookies and he hopes that I enjoyed them and he hopes that I would give him a call back to talk to him about their services.  So, I have no idea what this guy is talking about…this cookie business.  But sure enough, a few hours later, they bring me a package!  It was a cookie bouquet!  6 cookies.  I gave them all away though…  I didn’t call the guy back either.  I even googled them to see if they did this often and sure enough they do.  But it doesn’t seem like anyone called them back either.

That sure is some crazy expensive way of marketing.  Those types of business gifts are not cheap!  It’s certainly a nice gesture and certainly gets the attention of people but wow…is it worth it?   I guess if their services end up in the thousands of dollars each month – which it probably does and they spent $30 here and there to send people cookies to try to make sales, then it is.  But man, they better get lucky or something.

if you are a making a sales call or have never spoken to that person ever before.  The information that you should leave in a voicemail is as follows:

1. Your Name
2. Your Company
3. Purpose of the Call <—this is VERY important
4. Your Phone Number <—slowly and twice
5. If you left a LONG message, then repeat your name as well with step 4.

Why should you do these things?  Because that will increase your chances of getting a call back.  There is this one call and voicemail that I keep getting.  We’ll call him Joe from ACompany.  Joe from ACompany leave me a voicemail about 2-3 times a week.  His voicemail sounds like this, “Hi, this is Joe from ACompany, please give me a call back at xxx-xxx-xxxx.”  Ok, so what is wrong with Joe’s message?

Joe doesn’t state a purpose.  Why is he calling?  What is this regarding?  Are you selling something?  Is it something important?  What is it?  His messages are the same every single time and I never call him back.  I never call him back because I have no idea who he is or what he wants.  Maybe he’s a salesman and thinks that if he doesn’t have his sales pitch on the phone, I might be curious enough to call him back.  Sorry Joe, doesn’t work that way.

Sometimes Joe calls the line that goes through the receptionist.  Today I asked her to tell Joe to stop calling.  Do you know what Joe’s reaction was?  He was a)shocked and then b)mad.  He was upset that I told him to stop calling because he said that I had never even talked to him before.  The receptionist told him that she was no longer going to pass his calls through and that she had to honor my request.  To this, Joe said, that he wanted to talk to the bossman.  But you know what the bossman is going to do, he is going to hear Joe’s message and forward it straight to me to take care of because it is probably in-line with what my position is and to that I am still not calling him back.

So please, when you leave a voicemail, be clear and purposeful, which will be better for everyone.

It’s that time of year again – yearly performance reviews.  We have to submit a self-assessment and our manager also submits an assessment on us.  Hmm, let’s see, this is kind of odd.  If I’m evaluating myself on my performance which dictates my possibility of a raise or promotion of any sort or even if it is purely just to rate my performance, I should rate myself nothing lower than outstanding.  To rate myself anything less than outstanding is to say that I did not do my job and I did not do it well.  I find self evaluations quite interesting, they would like to see how we perceive ourselves.  I think it is more important for the manager to submit their evaluation of us in first and then we submit ours in without them being able to change theirs.  This way the manager cannot use what we wrote and just copy it.  They should think for themselves, create their own opinions, while we create our own.  This way the reviews are not biased.  To each his own.  If we are able to do self-assessments, we should also do peer reviews and manager reviews.  How does so and so work in a team project, do they communicate and contribute?  Is the manager doing a good job in the perspective of their team members?  All of these things should be taken into consideration – otherwise I think a lot of people who do well are never rewarded and those who do poorly are not reprimanded.  I turned in my review and marked myself as outstanding in every way possible and I believe I deserve the best raise possible.  We’ll see what happens in a few months.

Major layoffs happened as expected on Thursday.  It still seems a little unreal.  It was distrubing and sad.  I made it and still have a job, many other didn’t including some of the people on my team that I was good friends with.

It happened so early and it happened throughout the whole morning.  My desk at work faces the whole marketing department.  Behind me and to the left are other departments including the HR department.  Marketing people have absolutely no reason to go behind me and to the left unless they’re going to lunch.  However, early in the morning I saw one guy heading that way with his boss.  Next thing you know, he came back and was packing up his things and saying good bye.  I feel so bad for him.  They recruited him from the east coast and he hasn’t even been here for a year.  Now he has no job.

My coworker has a daily meeting with our boss.  They always meet at the desk and if not the desk than in the conference room just ahead.  She went for a meeting and next thing I know, she’s walking with the boss towards HR.  I can’t believe it.  Next thing you know, she comes back and is like, “I’m cut, can you guys help me get my pictures.”  Wow.  I was in shock.  We need her.  She’s important.  In fact, everyone in the whole department was in shock.  She was busy all the time and had an important role.  Wow.

And one by one, I saw people from marketing head to HR.  I sit by the door and I saw so many people packing up and leaving.  I saw a lady crying.  My other coworker was given a few months.  Many others had to pack up immediately and leave.

It’s so unreal to have a job one day and all of a sudden not.  To go work at a place every single day (besides weekends), to see the same people, and then next day, you don’t come back, you don’t see them.  Their desk is empty.  It’s crazy.  I can’t imagine if it was me.  What would I do?  There’s nothing out there.  It’s crazy.

We had a company meeting on Friday morning.  They told us how they chose.  They needed to cut salaries by 15%.  They had managers rank who they could afford.  Then rank them by intellect, hard work, and team work.  Wow.  They said they were done cutting.  But who knows till when.  They gave the spiel that we trust that the people who are still here can do the job and save the company.  They said that if we don’t succeed, we could basically all lose our jobs.  Wow.

Wow.  It is kind of bittersweet.  I am thankful I have a job.  But I am very sad for all those who are gone, especially those in my department.  We were so close.  I hope they will find a job soon.

He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.
Matthew 8:26

I keep telling myself that I just need to make it through tomorrow and if I make it through tomorrow, I just need to make it through Friday.

Chaos will ensue tomorrow.  It will be a sad day not only for some but probably for all.

I dreamt about it last night and it just might come true.

But I need to be reminded that whatever happens, it was meant to be.  I need to trust that He is in full control.  Always.  And that He knows what is best whether it be here or somewhere else.

Take it one day at a time.  I still hope I make it.

Oh man, did I get a kick out of this when it was sent around to all the women at work.  Yes, they had to hand-pick each of the names to mail to.

—–

These memos are never easy to write, but a recent incident warrants the necessity of sending this message to all of you.

As you may have seen lately, signs were posted in the second floor women’s restroom stalls reminding everyone about the need for keeping the restrooms clean and free of injury.

Thank you for your cooperation. Please continue with the good housekeeping rules.

However, a recent incident in the restroom, which caused a toilet to separate from the wall, prompts the importance of this e-mail and a reminder that we must be aware of our own actions and how it can affect others as well as the company.

The repair to the toilet and bathroom wall will be costly. This is a cost we can avoid if we can properly utilize the toilet seat. Sit, do not stand on the toilet seat.  Toilet seat covers are provided for your use if you choose to use them.

The restroom is a common area shared by many.  Please be considerate of others and let’s keep our restrooms clean and free from injury and damages.

—–

In hindsight, I guess I did recall that the restroom was out of order last week and also that there has been a sign on one of the doors saying it was out of order.  Out of pure curiosity, we had to take a peek at what was in the locked out of order stall.  I expected to see part of the toilet hanging off the wall, maybe cracked or something.  To my amazement and what was definitely unexpected was the whole toilet COMPLETELY broken, on the side, and on the floor.  I wish I took a picture of it because honestly it was quite hilarious.

I’m still curious as to how they know someone STOOD on the seat.  And WHY would anyone STAND on the seat?  This is not grade school where you are standing on the seat to hide or mess around.  This is an office building with adults.

Simply hilarious.  It was some well needed humor after a long day.

There were new signs posted up in each stall of the bathroom at work today.  It went something like this:

Need Your Help in Keeping the Bathrooms Clean

• Throw all toilet tissue in toilet and make sure it is completely flushed
• Throw feminine products into the appropriate bins
• NEVER throw used tissue or feminine products on the floor
• To avoid injury, do NOT stand on toilet seat

Thank you for your cooperation.

Do NOT remove this sign.

WOW.  Are we not all adults here?  Don’t people know that toilet paper goes in the toilet and feminine products don’t?!  Apparently not, because this is not the first time I’ve seen a sign like that!

Also, the last item is HILARIOUS!!!  I feel the urge to write next to that item, “who on earth is compelled to STAND ON the toilet seat?”  And it is kind of odd, DID someone get hurt while standing on the toilet seat?  They must have or else why would that be on the note.  And even if you did get hurt while standing ON the toilet seat, why would you tell anyone?!

Weirdos.

Every company should have a company or at least an department event once every few months or so.  I think it really helps improve employee morale.  Our department got to leave early this past Friday to go and play softball, eat and drink, and be merry.  I could sense that people were in high spirits on Friday.  Everyone was excited to go out and play and just hang out together.  People got to interact with others they haven’t before and it was just fun.  It was nice to see people’s personalities outside of work.  I think doing something like this every few months would just help make employees happier and have something fun to look forward to.